page_title: Johnny Stompanato homicide
section_title: Coroner's inquest
hierarchical_section_title: Johnny Stompanato homicide / Legal proceedings / Coroner's inquest
caption_attribution_description: English: April 1958
context_page_description: On the evening of April 4, 1958, 14-year-old Cheryl Crane stabbed 32-year-old Johnny Stompanato, the boyfriend of her mother, actress Lana Turner, at Turner's rented home in Beverly Hills, California. Stompanato, an ex-Marine and affiliate of the Cohen crime family, had been in a year-long relationship with Turner which had been rocky and marked with physical abuse.
  Crane and Turner alleged that the former had stabbed Stompanato in the stomach when Turner was ushering him out of her bedroom during a violent argument. Crane had heard the fighting and took a knife from the kitchen, planning to defend her mother. After Crane turned herself in to police in the early morning hours of April 5, she was interred in a juvenile hall. A coroner's inquest was held on April 11, during which the homicide was deemed justifiable, and Crane was exonerated of any wrongdoing. She was released in late April, and placed under the guardianship of her grandmother.
  Public response to the case was divisive, and numerous press outlets published articles criticizing Turner and likened her testimony during the inquest to that of a performance.
context_section_description: Due to Turner's high profile and the fact that the killing involved her teenage daughter, the case quickly became a cause célèbre. Over one hundred reporters and journalists attended the April 11, 1958, coroner's inquest, described by attendees as "near-riotous". 
  Cohen, Stompanato's friend and associate, was called as the first witness, but refused to provide testimony as he feared he might be implicated in the crime, and also refused to identify Stompanato's body in photographs. While Cohen was questioned, Stephen Trusso, a friend of Stompanato and spectator, interrupted the proceedings by screaming, "I want to testify!" He went on to claim that Crane killed Stompanato in a lover's quarrel because she was infatuated with him, and that she was jealous of her mother. Trusso's request to testify on the stand was denied by the judge. The second witness, Beverly Hills police chief Clinton Anderson, testified that he was "satisfied" with Crane's confession to the killing. Joseph B. Payne, a Beverly Hills police officer who was dispatched to the residence on the night of the killing, also testified; on the stand, Payne recounted his arrival at Turner's Bedford Drive home that night, where he was met by Crane's father Stephen, who had placed a call to the police himself.
  Additional testimony was provided by Stephen and Mildred. Stephen testified that he had received a frantic phone call from Crane the night of the stabbing, and quickly drove to Turner's home. Mildred, whose own husband (Turner's father) was murdered in 1930, also briefly took the stand, but was so visibly upset that she was excused from further testimony. Beverly Hills police captain Ray Borders provided further testimony regarding Cheryl's official statement given at the Beverly Hills Police Department. Several law enforcement officials, as well as Turner, Stephen Crane, and their attorney, Giesler, were present, and Borders attested that the version of events as told by Cheryl was consistent upon repeated questioning. Cheryl herself did not attend the inquest. In her absence, a written statement by Crane was read aloud, which recounted her overhearing of the argument, her acquiring the knife from the kitchen, and the eventual stabbing of Stompanato in her mother's bedroom. "He kept threatening her and I thought he was going to hurt her, so I went into the room and I stuck him with the knife," she said. "He screamed and asked what I was doing. I ran out of the room."
  Despite the voluminous testimony from others, a report of the inquest in The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that Turner's was "the highlight of a circus-like hearing." When Turner took the stand, a "hush fell over the crowd as the famous actress sat down, removed one white glove, and filled her lungs with a deep, steady intake of air." She began her testimony by recounting a shopping trip she had taken with Stompanato around 2:00 p.m. on the day of his death, culminating in the argument between them that began around 8:00 p.m. in her home. Recalling the moment Cheryl stabbed him, Turner stated: "I was walking toward the bedroom door, and he was right behind me, and I opened it, and my daughter came in. I swear, it was so fast, I—I truthfully thought she had hit him in the stomach. The best I can remember, they came together and they parted. I still never saw a blade." Throughout her 62 minutes of testimony, Turner was noted by reporters as nearly collapsing from anxiety. She described Stompanato's final moments, which consisted of "the most horrible noises in his throat and gasping." Upon finishing her testimony, Turner returned to her attorney, collapsing in tears.
caption: Turner on the stand
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